FTC Finalizes Privacy Settlement With Facebook

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about history of Facebook during the f/8 conference in San Francisco.

Paul Sakuma
/ AP

Originally published on August 10, 2012 10:20 am

The Federal Trade Commission has finalized a settlement with Facebook in which the social media leader agrees to get users' approval before making any privacy changes and agrees to periodic third-party audits for the next 20 years on how it handles user privacy.

We told you about this settlement back in November, but today, Reuters reports, after a period of public comment, the settlement has become official.

"The FTC claims that Facebook "deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public."

"In its press release, the FTC listed many of Facebook's alleged failings. In December 2009, for example, Facebook made public some information like friends list without getting users' approval. The FTC claims Facebook also told users it would not share information with advertisers but it did and in another instance Facebook allowed some apps to have access to nearly all of a user's personal information, which the apps did not need to operate."